Weather The Storm
by sapphire-child
Summary: When a huge storm sweeps through and Charlie thinks Claire is still trapped at the beach he immediately rushes to her rescue. The only problem is that she doesn't need to be rescued...


Title: Weather the Storm  
Original post date: 7th February 2006  
Spoilers: written after Fire + Water and before most of the rest of the season  
Summary: When a huge storm sweeps through and Charlie thinks Claire is still trapped at the beach he immediately rushes to her rescue.  
Disclaimer: note that it's called _fan_ fiction? Yeah that means that these people don't belong to me.

* * *

Charlie watched the steady stream of people fleeing from the mad weather outside into the caves with a certain amount of trepidation.

It hadn't taken much persuading for most people to come here after the rain didn't stop for three days straight. Charlie personally thought that the majority of people hadn't taken Locke's prediction of worsening weather seriously but after Jack had urged everyone to move to the caves where it was safer, drier…well they had been coming in their droves.

And those who had stayed on all seemed to be coming in now, ragged and soggy but still defiant.

Charlie had been amongst the first people to move back up when the rain had begun, nearly a week ago now. His beach shelter was, if he was quite frank with himself, completely pathetic. Mercifully, his nook back at the caves had been unoccupied and he had taken over it with a feeling of vicious self-satisfaction. It was still _his._

Then he had looked over at the empty space where Claire had once slept and suddenly he regretted returning to the place. It seemed an age ago that he had sat in this same spot and watched over her all night as she slept, peacefully or otherwise.

And now he stood at the entrance to the caves frowning heavily. He wasn't exactly sure why he was waiting for her to arrive – it's not like she would appreciate the gesture anyway. And yet here he was, waiting. Shifting his weight from foot to foot, tapping his fingers, full of nervous energy.

Somebody stepped through the narrow opening and his heart leapt only to sink the next moment when he realised that it wasn't her. He flattened himself against the wall to let them past only to leap around when he heard someone call his name.

Again his heart sank. It was just Hurley.

'Who're you waiting for dude?'

Charlie stuffed his hands in his pockets and scuffed the toe of his shoe along the ground, fully expecting Hurley to laugh at him when he finally managed to verbalise his answer.

'Claire.'

'Is she still at the beach?' Hurley's eyebrows shot up. 'I would have thought she'd have been one of the first ones back up here – with Aaron and all.'

'Yeah you would think that…' Charlie mumbled, glancing out into the increasingly ravenous storm outside.

'This storms getting pretty nasty,' Hurley observed, most unhelpfully. 'Are you sure she's not here already and you just missed her?'

Charlie _looked_ at Hurley who looked sheepish in return.

'Well…I know I haven't seen her here either so…' he trailed off and Charlie felt a stab of annoyance as he pulled his hands out of his pockets and began twisting his hands together. His stomach knotted at the sound of the first thunderclaps.

_What if she's still out there in this? On the beach, alone, with Aaron…?_

Mind beginning to whirl, Charlie glanced back at Hurley who had started talking again, then quite suddenly, ignoring him completely, he darted out into the rain.

Within moments he was soaked.

* * *

The sound of a baby crying brought Hurley to his senses quite swiftly. Good. Claire was here, she must have met up with Charlie on the path and now they were both back. He peered through the semi-darkness as several figures came running inside and shook their wet hair back from their faces.

Claire came first, carrying several bags, followed closely by Kate and then Sawyer – who was looking severely disgruntled at being lumbered with carrying the baby whilst the two women did all the hard slog.

Hurley peered past the three of them, fully expecting to see Charlie emerge from the shadows too and flick his hair back from his face, perhaps looking sheepish or (more likely) upset from some verbal barb that Claire may have thrown at him for coming after her.

But there was nothing.

No Charlie.

Hurley frowned and sat forward. Perhaps he was coming in now…? But Claire began to lead the others further into the caves, they were almost level with Hurley now and still there was no Charlie…

Was it possibly Charlie had somehow _missed_ Claire on the path to the caves?

'Claire!'

She turned, hefting her bag more securely onto her shoulder, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled tiredly at him. 'Can it wait a minute Hurley?urley? I need to settle I really need to…'

'Did you see Charlie?' Hurley blurted. Claire's expression darkened considerably and Hurley winced slightly. Probably not the _best_ way to start a conversation with Claire at the moment but nevertheless… 'I mean…you know, on the path to the beach?'

'Kate knows a shortcut,' Claire said impatiently, glancing over at the woman in question who had finally realised that Claire wasn't with them still and was now backtracking, bringing Sawyer with her. 'So we took that instead. And no I didn't see him. Why? Are you looking for him?'

Sawyer took one of Claire's bags and nudged Aaron back into her arms as Hurley replied.

'Well…he kinda thought that you were still at the beach and he left about…two minutes ago? Yeah. To go find you and get you back here before it got any worse. The weather I mean.'

There was a long pause and then Claire closed her eyes in an agonising sort of way and drew several slow breaths. Sawyer began to chuckle but soon stopped when Kate gave him a sharp dig in the ribs.

'The _idiot,'_ Claire let out an angry whoosh of breath and her eyes snapped open again. 'Surely he didn't think that I'd…oh _God_. He's _such_ an _idiot_ …'

And without saying another word, she pressed Aaron back into Sawyers arms, surrendered her remaining bags to Kate and had disappeared back into the rain.

_

* * *

Squelch, squelch, squelch._

_Drum drum, drum drum, drum._

_Squelch, squelch, squelch._

_Drum drum, drum drum, drum._

Charlie peered through the rain wishing vaguely for a pair of windscreen wipers for his face as he trotted down the path to the beach, his shoes squelching with every step. He'd tried to run full out at first but had soon found (once again) that he was seriously lacking in the area of cardiovascular fitness.

And was the rain getting…heavier?

Terrific.

He stepped up his pace a little, peering grimly through the trees. It had seemed like a good idea several minutes ago but now he was beginning to doubt himself. The rain was coming thicker and faster with every minute that passed – it was actually beginning to hurt where it hit him – and he was becoming colder and number the further he walked along.

Should I go back? Maybe she went another way and I missed her? I should go back now – that would be the smart thing to do…

Charlie pressed on.

* * *

After five minutes of pounding down the path to the beach, Claire was beginning to despair of ever finding Charlie – he could have easily taken a wrong turn or stepped off the path…

Then quite suddenly, just as she was considering giving up, she saw him just up the path, blurred by the rain but definitely Charlie.

She would have recognised him anywhere.

She began to run towards him...

* * *

Charlie heard the intruder before he saw them, a steady drumming of feet coupled with a pale blur racing towards him at the very edge of his peripheral vision.

He whirled around, fist raised, and managed to hit a glancing blow…

It wasn't until Claire hit the ground that he realised his mistake.

'Claire!' she pushed his hands away as she pulled herself to her feet and began to brush the worst of the mud from her clothes.

'I'm _fine_ Charlie,' she said tersely, still trying to beat off his hands which were trying desperately to grasp her shoulders. 'What did you think you were doing coming out here in the middle of a bloody monsoon to come get me? Now we're _both_ completely soaked! Come on, hurry up before it gets any worse!'

Charlie followed meekly as Claire stomped back towards the caves. She was angry with him but not as angry as he thought she could have been.

'Were you already at the caves?' he asked her after a moment.

'I arrived a few minutes after you charged off,' Claire informed him coldly. 'Hurley told me you'd gone and so I came to bring you back.' She glanced back at him. 'Hurry up would you? These shoes weren't exactly designed for wet weather. God, my feet are absolutely frozen…'

'Ditto,' Charlie tried to smile but his face muscles seemed frozen and Claire turned away and began to walk faster again, her hands balled into fists beside her. Charlie quickened his pace as well and drew level with her.

They didn't speak again until they arrived back at the caves.

* * *

'I don't _believe_ this.'

Claire raced forward and pulled her bag out of the rapidly swelling stream, cursing and swearing to herself. Charlie watched silently, as Claire picked her bag up and grimaced at the water that was dripping out of the bottom, wondering if he should leave or offer her a hand when she turned to him quite suddenly. Charlie recoiled a little, afraid she was going to slap him or something but she only sighed.

'As if the day couldn't get any better.' She sighed again and ran a hand through her sodden hair. 'Can you go ask Sawyer to take care of Aaron for a little while longer? I need to see how much of this I can salvage…oh God I don't have any dry clothes now do I?'

And then, doing her best to completely ignore Charlie, she began to pull her belongings out one at a time, trying to find something that might be dry. Charlie hovered for a moment, wondering if he should say something, opened his mouth, shut it again and then left.

For once he couldn't think of anything at all.

Claire gazed helplessly at her sodden belongings, ready to cry out in despair.

_Everything_ was wet. Everything. Which mightn't have been so bad if she'd been wearing dry clothes herself and was currently curled up in a rug in front of a fire with Aaron – but she wasn't.

She lifted one of her singlets up disparagingly with a thumb and forefinger, her face creasing as she noticed the water dripping from it and she slapped it back onto her pile of clothes and allowed her head to sink into her hands.

John had been urging her to relocate for nearly a week now but in the end he'd given up, knowing that she would move up there in her own stead. Sweet and friendly as she was, Claire also knew how to be blunt and was extremely stubborn when occasion called for it.

And the simple fact was that she just didn't have the time or energy to move back up to the caves again. The fact that Charlie had shifted back up there again – as she had told John several times now – had absolutely _nothing_ to do with it.

Although she admitted it wasn't so bad not having to worry about him being _there_ all the time, watching her and Aaron like he was stalking the two of them or something...

Flump.

Claire's eyes flew open at the feeling of something soft being dropped next to her and the whoosh of air that meant that someone was walking past, just behind her. There was a small bundle of dark fabric next to her left knee but it wasn't until she picked it up and held it, smelt it, that she recognised what it was.

She glanced back over her other shoulder. Charlie had hesitated several metres away and glanced back now, a little unsure, nervous at how she might take the gesture.

'It's probably too big,' he said apologetically. 'And it might not smell brilliant but at least its warm. And dry.'

Claire nodded silently and Charlie managed a lopsided grin before shuffling away.

That night Claire sat next to a sputtering fire, wrapped up snugly and wondered whether Charlie was cold. In her arms, Aaron fell asleep almost instantly, one small hand fisted around a fold in Charlie's hoodie.

_

* * *

Flump._

Charlie opened his eyes. He hadn't slept much, he never did, but this night had been longer than most, punctuated with helping people move their belongings out of the reach of the stream, which had finally burst its banks at about two in the morning. Claire, luckily, had moved to much higher ground and the last he had seen of her she was sitting in front a small fire, wrapped in his hoodie, holding Aaron and looking tired.

It gave him a small sense of satisfaction to know that she was okay – due, in part, to his help. Although if he hadn't gone looking for her she wouldn't have gotten wet in the first place and then her bag wouldn't have been put into the path of the stream and…Charlie mentally backtracked.

The point was that, in the end, in sort of a roundabout fashion, he'd ended up helping her.

His eyes went now to the object that had made the previous _flump_ noise and his eyes instead found a pair of tattered blue Cons, a pair of pale shins leading up, up, up…

'Hi,'

Claire jumped. 'Did I wake you up?' she whispered. 'I didn't mean to…I was just returning your…'

'Thanks,' Charlie sat up and curled a hand around his hoodie, drawing it to his side. 'Was it warm enough?'

'Yes,' Claire whispered. Really, Charlie thought, there was no need to _whisper_ was there?

But then she hesitated, and he waited. 'Thank you.'

'You're welcome,'

She hesitated again. And he waited. Again.

'Also…' _would you_ stop _hesitating?_ 'Thanks for coming after me yesterday. I don't think anyone else would have done that.'

Charlie wanted to say, 'Of course they wouldn't have! They don't give a fuck do they? But _I_ do.'

Instead he shrugged. 'It was no big deal. I was just worried about you being out there in that weather with Aaron is all.'

Claire's expression softened slightly but next moment the impassive face was back up again and she was nodding and stepping away.

'Thank you as well,' Charlie called after her.

'What for?'

Charlie grinned wryly. 'For coming and getting me, bringing me back, even after I punched you in the mouth thinking you were one of the Others come to hang me from a tree again.'

Claire stared at him and then grinned at him for one long and wonderful moment. Charlie grinned back.

'That's okay,' she said, still smiling a little.

Once she'd gone Charlie pulled his hoodie on and zipped it up. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply.

It smelt like Claire.


End file.
